Colorado Springs, Colorado (CNN) – Rep. Paul Ryan appealed to veterans and active military in Colorado at two events on Tuesday in which he assailed President Barack Obama for weakening military with defense cuts and mishandling Arab Spring uprisings.

In the aftermath of the deadly attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, killing four including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, the Republican vice presidential nominee escalated his criticism of the Democratic incumbent president’s handling of the incident, saying it was an example of “how the Obama foreign policy is blowing up in our faces.”

“Look around the world. It looks like Tehran in 1979 but in about a dozen capitals around the world,” said Ryan, referring to the hostage crisis in Iran where 52 Americans were held hostage at an American embassy for 444 days.

“They are burning our flags at our embassies. They’re climbing our walls at our embassies. They’re taking down our flags and putting up the flags of the Muslim Brotherhood. They just killed four of our diplomats in Benghazi, and Iran is that much closer toward a nuclear weapon,” he continued.

Ryan made those remarks in Fort Collins, his sixth town hall meeting in two weeks, in a county that voted for Obama in 2008.

In the afternoon, he held an outdoor rally in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado Springs, an area home to five military installations that Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain won four years ago.

The GOP candidate said a Romney-Ryan administration would push for a strong military and missile defense program. Just like he made a local connection when he was campaigning in Ohio on Monday, Ryan called out the area bases in Colorado Springs.

“To the soldiers in Fort Carson, to the airmen at Peterson and Schriever Air Force Base, and to those cadets at the Air Force Academy, we respect you, we appreciate you and we will back you because we need you. We need your support. We need what you do,” he told approximately 1,500 people gathered at America the Beautiful Park.

Wisconsin-native Ryan, who has served in the House of Representatives for 14 years, condemned Obama for presiding over Defense Department budget cuts that threaten jobs throughout the defense industry.

“And these defense cuts that he is promising, these devastating defense cuts that he is promising not only undermine our peace, not only undermine our security, they compromise jobs right here,” Ryan said Tuesday evening.

Although Ryan has blamed Obama for what he has calls “devastating defense cuts," during last year's budget negotiations, the House Budget Committee chairman himself helped guide and pass the Budget Control Act through Congress. Many Democrats also voted for the measure, and it was signed by the president.

At his fourth event in Colorado, a critical swing state that voted for Obama in 2008, Ryan described the defense cuts as a threat to national security.

“And please know that when we gut our military as the president is proposing, when we equivocate on speaking up for our values overseas, our freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom for women and women’s rights and individual rights, when we do this, we project weakness abroad,” Ryan said.

He continued, “And when we project weakness abroad, our enemies are more willing to test us, they are more brazen and our allies are less willing to trust us and that will not happen under a Mitt Romney administration because we believe in peace through strength.”

In Fort Collins at a mowing manufacturing company Ryan was asked if presidential nominee Romney was going to be “forceful in those debates and take it to Obama?”

“Of course he will,” Ryan responded. “Look, this is a president, a man who campaigned with all this glorious rhetoric, all this hope and change, promising all these grand things, and he’s yet to deliver on all these big promises.”

“We are not simply asking you to fire Barack Obama because he’s not worth re-hiring,” he continued. “We’re asking you to fire Barack Obama because we are worth hiring because we have better ideas.”

soundoff(36 Responses)

v_mag

I'm really getting concerned about W. Is he in a bunker? Is he sick? Has he had a stroke, or gone off the wagon? Or off his rocker?

Where's Elmo, er, Wacko? Not on the campaign trail, just as he wasn't in 2008. Not in the news. Not making a speech or going to the convention or in an ad. George Wacko is MIA. Maybe he's on a secret mission with Seal Team 6, or sleeping off a big night in Laredo.

Or maybe he's just following orders to never, under any circumstances, remind the voters that his clone is running for president.

September 27, 2012 09:14 am at 9:14 am |

Seattle11

But, the GOP/Tea Party voted against the Veteran jobs bill. By the way, didn't Ryan vote for the defence cut?

September 27, 2012 09:15 am at 9:15 am |

kay

How can vets vote for Romney? Do vets really like war? Romney/ryan are for war as long as it is your son or daughter not theirs.

September 27, 2012 09:15 am at 9:15 am |

Cedar Rapids

The hypocrisy of this man. The defense cuts are coming because congress couldnt get its act together and pass legislation....he doesnt do his job and he blames Obama for it? jeez, the nerve of the guy.

September 27, 2012 09:18 am at 9:18 am |

Jan

Paul Ryan is a JOKE? Because of the "Budget" he wrote and his "CONSTANT CRITICISM OF PRESIDENT OBAMA" he was "PERCEIVED to be a Rock Star"...but now when "Attempting to Answer The Call to Go Beyond and Be Specific on Plans" we see him for who he really is...and that is "NO!!! NOT A ROCK STAR" at all!!! He has nothing to appeal to the Military, but to criticize President Obama. HE HAD NOTHING TO OFFER A WELFARE RECIPIENT WHO ASKED WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS TO BRIDGE ME OFF OF WELFARE!!! She doesn't want to be on welfare, but that is her current situation. Romney and Ryans plan MAY WELL INCLUDE ALL OF THE CURRENT TAX CREDITS CURRENTLY IN PLACE TO HELP PEOPLE LIKE HER AND VETERANS, WHILE THEY SCREAM "MOOCHERS".

September 27, 2012 09:22 am at 9:22 am |

Lynda/Minnesota

I remember back in the mid 70s when my husband and I were first married. He was stationed at Ft. Carson for two years. Folks in Colorado Springs actually despised our United States military back then. Literally.

Oh, well. Wonder if our troops yet understand that Romney/Ryan aren't interested so much in their welfare as they are interested in continuing to grease the palms of defense contractors? Defense contractors and United States military personnel aren't mutually conducive to one another.

Beyond that, not much to say about Paul Ryan's newest talking point toy. He is way beyond his own scope of intelligence when speaking of anything remotely considered "foreign affairs".

September 27, 2012 09:22 am at 9:22 am |

LesPaul23

You mean Mitt who ran away to France with his butler when he had his chance to serve his country – he's the guy you're saying wants a strong defense? We don't need another chicken-hawk like W as Commander in Chief, look where that got us. Obama has been doing a good job of cleaning up W's mess. And Ryan's a real tough guy, he shoots deer you know.

September 27, 2012 09:23 am at 9:23 am |

linda

Yeah well if they are so concerned about the Veteran and want their votes and want them to go and fight and die for our country then why didn't they vote for the Veterans Job Bill last week......they voted it down even though it was a biparticin bill and the dems up in all the amendendments they wanted added to the bill and then when it came to vote for it they voted it down....What they are telling you Veterans is yes we thank you for your Service for our country but when you come home your on your own......hypocrites......they didn't want this bill to pass because it would give Obama credit for helping the Veterans and it is to close to elections ......after all the Republicans are trying to tell all of us that Obama hasn't stood up for the Veterans.....for the GOP to put politics before our Veterans is the most unpatriotic thing they could do.....

September 27, 2012 09:24 am at 9:24 am |

v_mag

This is a message for the folks who want to "take America back", presumably to the 1950s (if not the 1590s):

Not only was the top income tax rate about 90% back then, but according to the Office of Management and Budget, corporations paid $3 in taxes for every $1 paid by workers. Corporations now pay 22 cents for every $1 paid by workers. That is stunning. If you mean you want to take America back to when corporations and the rich paid more of their share, I'm with you. Under W-omney, corporations and the rich will pay even less, leaving more to be paid by me and other middle class folks.

Corporations have rigged the tax code, through their bought-and-sold Congress, so that they pay virtually nothing to support the country that enriches them. Why isn't everyone heading to the GE or Bank of America boardrooms with pitchforks?

Colorado doesn't want the anti-women Romney/Ryan ticket. Romney/Ryan will lose CO (but not CO Springs which elected Doug Lamborn, after all) , but it may not matter–the President will probably have it wrapped up. The bottom line: we don't like the 'stench.'